Project Number: 517999-LLP-1-2011-1-GR-COMENIUS-CMP

Cyprus

ELENI LOIZOU is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at the Department of Education at the University of Cyprus. She has also taught as an Assistant Professor at Hunter College – CUNY, NY (2002-2003) and as an Instructor at Teachers College, Columbia University New York (2001-2002). Her research focuses on an array of early childhood themes such as: young children’s humor, empowering young children and teachers, language and early literacy, early childhood curriculum, infant, toddler development and practice, teacher education and professional development. In 2009 she was appointed as the Co-ordinator of the Committee for the Early Childhood Curriculum which was part of the Educational Reform in Cyprus and is one of the principal authors of the New Early Childhood Curriculum. Also, she is the director of the Early Childhood Education Research Centre (EENA) of the Department of Education. She has published over 15 research papers in peer reviewed international journals and presented in multiple conferences with an early childhood focus.

Translation scales in 5 languages / Evaluation Report for each country / E-book

Organizing the final products

September – March 2014

University Members

DISSEMINATION PHASE

Proceedings of the Workshop

International Workshop

May 2014, Greece

University Members

Aims of the project

Aims
Three are the basic aims of this project:
(i) The first is the enhancement of the professional development of early educators,
(ii) The second is the implementation of ICT’s in the training of early educators from 6 E.U countries, and (iii) the third is the evaluation of the early
childhood education environments of these countries.

Objectives
(i) Professional development:
(a) One objective has to do with the acquisition from early educators of skills to work as trained assessors of Early Childhood Education Environments through their participation in the training phases of the project.
(b) Another objective is the development of self-assessment skills through the the implementation of the ECERS-R scale in their own classrooms.

(ii) Implementation of ICTs in the training of early educators:
(a) One objective is the enhancement of the e-literacy of early educators through the constant use of the web-based platform in the whole project.
(b) Another objective is the effective communication, support and feedback of early educators from the academic staff through the synchronous and asynchronous use of the website and the web-based platform.

(iii) Evaluation of early childhood education environments:
(a) One objective of the project is the collection of empirical data for the assessment of the structural quality and process quality of educational care and pre-primary settings for toddlers and preschoolers. These data will be collected by the participating early educators during the training phase II.
(b) Another objective is the comparison of the quality of early childhood education environments across six different educational systems by processing the selected data using advanced statistical analyses.
(c) A final objective is the recording of a wide range of ‘best practices’ implemented in early childhood classrooms in the participating countries. These data will be collected from the early educators during the training phase II, with the usage of an observation tool.

Project description

This proposal will contribute to the professional development of early educators (approximately 120) from 6 countries (Greece, Finland, Denmark, Portugal, Romania, Cyprus) who will be trained in using the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-R (ECERS-R) that evaluates the quality of early childhood environment. These educators will acquire the skills to work as assessors in using ECERS-R and develop skills for an effective self-evaluation.

This proposal will also combine the professional development of educators with the implementation of ICTs with the use of a web-platform with synchronous and asynchronous sessions, thus enhancing their e-literacy skills. The web-platform and the web-site of the project, even after its completion, both in English, will provide opportunities for further communication and cooperation among educators.

Early educators from 9 educational districts and academics from 9 Universities will participate. The academics will be responsible for the training of educators, based on a well-developed training package, created for the needs of this project. This package will also contain the translated ECERS-R scale and its user’s manual in Greeks, Portuguese, Finnish, Danish & Romanian. This process will enhance trainers’ experience concerning the evaluation of early childhood environments, will widen their expertise in several dimensions of teachers and will enable academics to implement this training to other early educators.

An innovative output will be an interactive e-book, containing:(a) The comparative study concerning the quality of the 6 early childhood educational systems, and (b) A wide range of “Good Practices” for educators. Both outputs constitute an innovative action towards the improvement of early education across Europe. International academic and educational community will benefit from all products of this project (workshops, scientific papers, presentations, etc.), which will be available on the project’s web-site.

She is a Professor in Music and Movement Education in the Department of Early Childhood Care & Education, Faculty of Health and Medical Care at the Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki (Greece). She teaches in this Department since 2003, when she was elected to the position of Associate Professor. She began her academic career at the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science of Democritus University of Thrace, where she was Lecturer from 1999 to 2003. She has published over 40 papers in international scientific journals covering the topics of the implementation of intervention movement programs for preschool aged children and their effects on children’s development, evaluation of the quality of early childhood education and creativity in teaching and the creative child. She has more than 75 presentations at World Conferences, and she was participated in a number of National and European Transnational Projects. She has also organized in-service training seminars for early childhood educations and physical educators in various European countries.

Athanasios Gregoriadis is a Lecturer of Early Childhood Education at the Department of Education at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, inGreece. His research focuses on various early childhood themes such as: teacher-child relationships, peer rejection, early childhood curriculum, sociometry and the evaluation of early childhood environments. He teaches courses both in Bachelor and Master’s Degrees and he is in charge for the practicum of the pre-service early educators in his university. He is also a scientific advisor in the Experimental He has participated and is currently participating as a coordinator and key staff member in 4 funded international and national research projects during the last seven years. He has published over 15 research papers in peer review international journals, and he is a member of the American Educational Research Association.

He is a Lecturer in Educational Evaluation at the University of Crete, Department of Preschool Education, Greece. In the past, he was a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at Liverpool Hope University, UK and University of Macedonia, Greece. He was also an Academic Scholar at the University of Thessaly, Greece for nine years. He has participated in nine funded national and international research projects during the last 13 years, and his main research interests are: educational evaluation, early childhood education evaluation, physical activity in early childhood education. He has published over 20 research papers in peer reviewed international journals and is a member of the American Evaluation Association and American Educational Research Association.

Ana Madalena Gamelas is an Educational Psychologist who developed her Education at the Faculty of Psychology and Sciences of Education in the University of Porto. Here she got a Master and a Doctoral degrees in Psychology of Child Development and Education. She is an Assistant Lecturer in the Special Education Department at the School of Education – Polytechnic Institute of Porto, teaching courses both in Bachelor and Master’s Degrees. She is a researcher, PhD, at the Centre of Psychology of Oporto University, where she has been participating, since 1992, in different European and national research projects. During the period 1994-2006 she worked directly, as an Educational Psychologist, with children and their families, and preschool institutions. Since 2002 she has organized and teached several in service-training courses on preschool quality environment (namely ECERS-R training), emergent literacy and social skills in educational settings. Ana Gamelas is one of the translators of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale – Revised Edition, into Portuguese (published in 2008). She has presented her work on preschool education nationally and internationally. Her main research interests are: inclusive education; quality dimensions in childcare education; teachers’ beliefs on school/classroom practices; literacy development; mixed methodology and Q methodology.

She is a Lecturer in the scientific area of Psychology at the School of Education – Polytechnic Institute of Porto. Teaches courses both in Bachelor and Master’s Degrees. Is a member of the scientific coordination of the Master in Social Education and Intervention. Is responsible for a Continuing Education Programme (i.e., Lifelong Education) for preschool teachers. She is a researcher, PhD, at the Centro de Psicologia da Universidade do Porto. Is one of the translators of the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale – Revised Edition, into Portuguese (in press). Previously, had a research fellowship (PhD) from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), with the doctoral project Child Care Quality: Ideas and Practices, at the University of Porto (2002-2006); was a student participant in the Transatlantic Consortium in Early Childhood Early Intervention (2003-2004), funded by the European Commission and the U.S. Department of Education, with attendance of three intensive institutes [(1) Mälardalen University, Sweden; (2) University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill, USA; and (3) Porto University, Portugal]; and had a Professional Internship and Research Fellowship in a project developed by the Center of Psychology at the University of Porto. Participated on the organization of the 2009 ECERS’s meeting and of the Porto Intensive Summer Institute – Transatlantic Consortium in Early Childhood Early Intervention (2004). Has been publishing nationally and internationally.

She is a Professor in the scientific area of Psychology at the School of Education – Polytechnic Institute of Porto. Teaches courses both in Bachelor and Master’s Degrees. Is the Coordinator of the scientific area of Psychology and member of the scientific council at the School of Education – Polytechnic Institute of Porto. Is responsible for a Continuing Education Programme (i.e., Lifelong Education) for preschool teachers. Between 2000 and 2004, she has participated, as a PhD student at the Psychology Centre – University of Porto, in the project entitled “The quality of child interactions in family and day care centre and its impact in child sociocognitive development”, funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (POCTI/PSI/35207/2000, and between 2005 and 2008, she has participated, as a researcher, PhD, at the Psychology Centre – University of Porto, in the project entitled “Longitudinal Study of Children’s Engagement and Adaptation” funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (POCI/PSI/58712/2004). Is one of the translators of the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale – Revised Edition, into Portuguese (in press). Has been publishing nationally and internationally.

Grants to the Department of Sport Sciences (having personal key role)
2007 Ministry of Education grant (to the MBRU) for organizing the International Motor Behaviour Congress 16 000€
2007 – 2009 University of Jyväskylä Foundation of Motor Behaviour Research Unit 150 000 €
2008 Ministry of Education grant (to the MBRU) for organizing the International Motor Behaviour Congress (Jyväskylä)
2009 Ministry of Education grant to organize the International Congress on Enhancement of Physical Activity of Children and Youth (www.icepa.fi; Vuokatti 7.-9.4.2010)
2012 Ministry of Education grant to organize the International Congress on Enhancement of Physical Activity and Motor Skilla (www.icepa.fi; Jyväskylä 1.-3.11.2012)

Scientific projects to lead
The head of “Students functional capasity -project. The financial support comes from Ministry of Education and Culture, years 2010-2011 (60 000€ + 140 000€).
The head of Research in the “Sotkamo – moving municipality” –project. The financial support comes from European Unity and the Ministry of Education and Culture, years 2010-2011 (40 000€).

Major memberships in scientific and academic societies
Managing Council member of the European Federation of Sport Psychology 1991 – 2003
Managing Council member of the Finnish Association of Sport Psychology 1989 – 2008 (President during several phases)

ELENI LOIZOU is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at the Department of Education at the University of Cyprus. She has also taught as an Assistant Professor at Hunter College – CUNY, NY (2002-2003) and as an Instructor at Teachers College, Columbia University New York (2001-2002). Her research focuses on an array of early childhood themes such as: young children’s humor, empowering young children and teachers, language and early literacy, early childhood curriculum, infant, toddler development and practice, teacher education and professional development. In 2009 she was appointed as the Co-ordinator of the Committee for the Early Childhood Curriculum which was part of the Educational Reform in Cyprus and is one of the principal authors of the New Early Childhood Curriculum. Also, she is the director of the Early Childhood Education Research Centre (EENA) of the Department of Education. She has published over 15 research papers in peer reviewed international journals and presented in multiple conferences with an early childhood focus.

Laura Ciolan is a Senior Lecturer at the Department for Teacher Training, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences (University of Bucharest). She is especially involved in the study programs for preparation of future kindergarten and primary school teachers, delivering courses and undertaking research activities in the following disciplines: Early Cildhood Education, Classroom / educational group management, Pedagogy of play / Play management etc.

Laura is also invoved in different research and development project related to teacher education, one of the most importnat currently being called Good start for schooling. She is coordinating practical training of students outside university (in kindergartens and primary schools) and she is involved in teaching activities at Master level.

Anca Petrescu is a graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree from the Philology College (Romanian-French Department), at the University of Bucharest, and from October 2008 until September 2011 she was a Ph.D. candidate in the Sciences of Education. Since 2006 she has been serving as an university assistant professor within the Departament for Pedagogy of Primary and Preschool Education in Bucharest, teaching seminars of French Language, Romanian Literature, Methodology of language learning activities in the preschool education and the Methodology of Romanian language and literature in the primary education. Since 2002 till now, she has attended national and international conferences, various traineeships in the country and abroad, publishing two textbooks for the French Language, as well as a series of articles and studies in professional magazines and in the bulletins/copybooks of some major scientific events. In May 2009, she was a member of the team that organized the ENTEP European Conferences – Quality Assurance in Teachers Continuing Professional Development – Priorities and Perspectives.

Her doctoral thesis is focused on a topic of great interest debate at present – Training of the foreign languages teachers in the Romanian primary and preschool education, paying attention to the changes of paradigm occurred in terms of the professionalisation of this category of teachers.

Camelia Radulescu Ph.D.

Camelia Radulescu is currently a lecturer at the University of Bucharest, in the Department for Teacher Education, specialised in foreign language education and literature for children. She obtained her MA in English Language Studies and Methods at the University of Warwick (UK) and her PhD in Teacher Education at the University of Nottingham (UK). Her research interests lie with reflective processes involved in teacher learning and systematic approaches to reflective teaching. She has been involved in various project related to blended learning and integrated approaches to teaching as well as early education and successful school start. She has published a volume on Issues of Professional Development Based on Reflective Processes in Initial Teacher Education in Romania and many research articles in specialised journals and conference Proceedia on second language learning and teacher education.

Romita Iucu Ph.D.

Romita Iucu is the Vice Rector of University of Bucharest. He is a Professor of Educational Sciences at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. He studied at theUniversityofBucharest, “Freie Universität” ofBerlinandUniversityofLausanne. He was appointed in 2000 Deputy General Director at the Ministry of Education, in 1998 Director of the Teacher Education College, vice-dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and started with 2004, Vice-Rector of the University of Bucharest. At the European level he has been member of the EU Group “Improving the Quality for Teachers and Trainers” (2002-2005), member of Cluster Teachers and Trainers and since 2006 is member of ENTEP and since October 2010 is ENTEP Coordinator.

She is Associate Professor at the University College of Sealand. Her domains of specialization are: a) Professional development of early childhood educators and b) Applications for Early Childhood Education. She participated in the following projects:

The final meeting of the EARLY CHANGE project was held on 23rd and 24th of January 2014 in Thessaloniki (Greece). The participants were 10 academics from the nine Universities – partners of the project.

The agenda of the meeting included the following topics:

Work-packages and deliverables that were completed till the time of the final meeting

Report from each partner-country describing the implementation and the benefits of the project’s implementation

Methods of data processing

Issues about the organization of the ‘Early Change Workshop’ which took place in Thessaloniki, on 25th of January 2014

Future dissemination activities

Financial issues

Preparation of the E-book, allocation of tasks

Future deadlines and preparation of the Final Report

Dr. Zachopoulou, the coordinator of the project, presented the work-packages and the deliverables that were completed from the beginning of the project till the time of the final meeting. She also presented the dissemination actions for the same period of the project. These actions included the participation in eight International and European Conferences, where project’s results were presented. Additionally, the dissemination actions also include the following publications: in the ‘The International Journal for Innovation and Quality in Learning, and in the Proceedings of ICERI 2013 Conference (International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation). During the meeting, the partners took decisions about the future dissemination activities, along with future deadlines which linked with the preparation of the Final Report of the project. Dr. Zachopoulou also discussed extensively with all partners various topics related to the financial management of the project.

Dr. Gregoriadis, from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), presented the structure of the E-book, and allocation of tasks were discussed. Dr. Liukkonen, from University of Jyvaskyla (Finland), presented the data which were collected by each country, and discussed with the partners the methods to analyze and present them. Finally, one representative from each country made a 15 – min presentation, describing specificities of the project’s implementation in each country, difficulties during the use the evaluation scales, and the different reflections from the participated early educators.

2nd meeting of the ‘Early Change’ project

The second meeting of the EARLY CHANGE project was held on 2nd and 3rd of September 2012 in Porto (Portugal). The participants were 12 academics from the eight Universities -partners of the project.

The agenda of the meeting included the following topics:
(a) the dissemination actions that were implemented til the time of the 2nd meeting,
(b) various issues regarding the translation and selection phases for each country,
c) the program for the training seminars in each country, the training requirements and training procedure issues,
d) financial issues,
e) time planning of the project, future deadlines and the next steps.

Dr. Zachopoulou, the coordinator of the project, presented the dissemination actions and the activities that were concluded the period from the first meeting till the second meeting. These actions included the participation in the International ECERS Meeting 2012 (Berlin, May 2012) and the participation in the EECERA 2012 Conference (Porto, August 2012) through a self-organized symposium entitled ‘Early Change: A cross-national project of early childhood education quality’. Dr. Zachopoulou also discussed extensively with all partners various topics related to the financial management of the project.

Dr. Grammatikopoulos, from University of Crete (Greece), and Dr. Gregoriadis, from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), presented during the meeting, the detailed program, the content and the practical issues concerning the Training Seminars for early educators in each country. An All partners discussed thoroughly the details and the modifications necessary for the Training Schedule in each country. The partners from Porto University and from Polytechnic Institute of Porto presented their contribution in the Training Seminars. The last topic of this meeting focused in the preparation of the Progress Report of ‘Early Change’ project.

The hosting partners were Dr. Teresa Leal from Porto University, Dr. Ana Gamelas and Dr. Manuela Pessanha from Polytechnic Institute of Porto. Except from the hosting partners, the coordinator and the partners from Greece (Dr. Grammatikopoulos and Dr. Gregoriadis), the other participants Dr. Jarmo Liukkonen and Dr. Raija Raittila from Jyvaskyla University (Finland), Dr. Eleni Loizou from University of Cyprus, Claus Henriksen from University College Zealand (Denmark), and Anca Petrescu and Camelia Radulescu from University of Bucharest (Romania).

Kick off Meeting in Brussels

Dr. Vasilis Grammatikopoulos on behalf of the Early Change project attended the kick-off meeting for Comenius, ICT and Languages Projects held on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 February 2012, in Brussels, Belgium.

Valuable information and guidelines about project management were presented by the officials of EACEA. Moreover, networking opportunities with colleagues across different actions were revealed. We are currently discussing with several colleagues involving in relevant projects or
networks in order to find ways to cooperate with each other something that could be most beneficial.

The first meeting of the EARLY CHANGE project was held on 3rd and 4th of February 2011 in Thessaloniki. 12 academics from eight Universities -partners of the project, participated in the meeting.

The issues discussed during the meeting were:

(a) Time-planning of the whole project, with detailed reference to each phase of the project,

(b) Allocation of tasks and issues concerning the administrative and the financial management.

Dr. Zachopoulou, the coordinator of the project, presented the work plan with detailed description of the activities and the outputs of each phase of the project. The deadlines for each deliverable were set, and financial and management issues were discussed in details with the partners. Dr. Grammatikopoulos, from University of Crete (Greece), and Dr. Gregoriadis, from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), presented during the meeting, the evaluation strategy of the project and the guidelines for collecting good practices.

Moreover, issues concerning future plans such as the next meeting in Porto, forthcoming training seminars and further actions were analyzed. The final dates for the meeting in Porto and training seminars in Greece, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, and Cyprus were initially agreed and will be finalized till the end of April.

Except from the hosting partners the other participants were Dr. Teresa Leal from Porto University (Portugal), Dr. Ana Gamelas, Dr. Silvia Barros and Dr. Manuela Pessanha from Polytechnic Institute of Porto (Portugal), Dr. Jarmo Liukkonen, from Jyvaskyla University (Finland), Dr. Eleni Loizou from University of Cyprus, Lise Sanders Olesen and Claus Henriksen from University College Zealand (Denmark) and Bill Lehmann from Guldborgsund Municipality (Denmark). These partners had the chance to present the Early Childhood Education system of their own country during a session of the meeting.

The partners from Romania could not participate in the meeting due to the severe weather conditions faced their country during those dates. Thus, the coordinating institute organized another meeting with them held on the 16th & 17th of February 2012. Dr. Romita Iucu, Vice Rector of the University of Bucharest, and Dr. Laura Ciolan, Senior Lecturer at the same university traveled safely this time to Thessaloniki and participated in this extra scheduled meeting which was special organized for them. The topic discussed were the same with those of the first meeting. Moreover, the dates for the training seminar in Romania were decided.

Training Seminars

EARLY CHANGE Training in Portugal 10-12 November 2012

EARLY CHANGE Training in Portugal

10-12 November 2012

At the 10th, 11th, 12th of November 2012 the Early Change project visited the city of Porto in Portugal where the training seminar for the Training Phase I was conducted. The training was hosted by the University of Porto (Prof. Teresa Leal, Manuela Pessahna and Ana Gamelas).

University of Porto (one aspect)
The colleagues who organized and run the training were Dr. Leal, Dr. Gamelas and Dr. Pessahna from Portugal.

Training seminar

Early childhood educators from public preschool centers in Porto participated in the training that lasted three days.

Daily schedule for the estimation of the substantial portion of the day

Tips to proceed with the scoring during the observation

Reliability issues

11.00-12.00

Video observation & practical implementation (part I)

Video part I

Becoming familiar with the indicators

Practical tasks concerning the indicators

Discussion about the indicators

Lunch Break

12.45-14.30

Video observation & practical implementation (part I)

Video part I

Observation & rating video I

Discussion about the items’ rating

2nd DAY

09.00-11.00

Video observation, items rating & reliability procedures (Video II)

Video part II

Observation & rating video II

Discussion about the items

Lunch break

12.00-14.00

Video observation, items rating & reliability procedures (Video II)

Items rating

Checking reliability

3rd DAY

08.30-10.30

Live observation

Small groups in kindergartens

Lunch break

11.00-14.00

Rating and reliability procedure

Items rating

Checking reliability

EARLY CHANGE Training in Romania 6 – 7 December 2012

EARLY CHANGE Training in Romania

6 – 7 December 2012

At the 6th and 7th of December 2012 the Early Change project visited the city of Bucharest in Romania where the training seminar for the Training Phase I was conducted. The training was hosted by the University of Bucharest (Prof. Romita Iucu and Laura Ciolan).

University of Bucharest (night photo)
The colleagues who organized and run the training were Dr. Grammatikopoulos and Dr. Gregoriadis from Greece and Dr. Leal and Dr. Gamelas from Portugal.

Training seminar

Training seminar

Early childhood educators from public preschool centers in Bucharest participated in the training that lasted two full days.

Daily schedule for the estimation of the substantial portion of the day

Tips to proceed with the scoring during the observation

Reliability issues

11.00-12.00

Video observation & practical implementation (part I)

Video part I

Becoming familiar with the indicators

Practical tasks concerning the indicators

Discussion about the indicators

Lunch Break

12.30-13.30

Video observation & practical implementation (part I)

Video part II

Observation & rating video I

Discussion about the items’ rating

Coffee Break

14.00-18.00

Video observation& reliability procedures

Video part III

Observation & rating video II

Discussion about the items

Rating and reliability procedure

Items rating, Checking reliability

Discussion

2nd DAY

08.00-12.00

Live observation

Small groups in kindergartens

Lunch break

14.00-18.00

Rating and reliability procedure

Items rating

Checking reliability

Social activities of EARLY CHANGE in Bucharest: Romita, Laura, and the other colleagues who participated in the seminar were very warm and hospitable and created a great atmosphere throughout the training seminar, and our stay in Bucharest. They even organized a night visit at the opera of Bucharest for us. We thank them one more time for their hospitality and their friendship.

Early educators in the seminar

The Opera Of Bucharest

The Opera Of Bucharest

EARLY CHANGE Training in Cyprus 27 – 29 January 2013

EARLY CHANGE Training in Cyprus

27 – 29 January 2013

At the 27th 28th and 29th of January 2013 the Early Change project visited the city of Nikosia in Cyprus where the training seminar for the Training Phase I was conducted. The training was hosted by the University of Cyprus (Prof. Eleni Loizou).

University of Cyprus (one aspect)
The colleagues who organized and run the training were Dr. Grammatikopoulos and Dr. Gregoriadis from Greece.

Training seminar

Training seminar

Early childhood educators from public preschool centers in Nicosia participated in the training that lasted three days.

Daily schedule for the estimation of the substantial portion of the day

Tips to proceed with the scoring during the observation

Reliability issues

11.00-12.00

Video observation & practical implementation (part I)

Video part I

Becoming familiar with the indicators

Practical tasks concerning the indicators

Discussion about the indicators

Lunch Break

12.45-14.30

Video observation & practical implementation (part I)

Video part I

Observation & rating video II

Discussion about the items’ rating

2nd DAY – 28/01/2013

09.00-11.00

Video observation,items rating & reliability procedures (Video II)

Video part II

Observation & rating video II

Discussion about the items

Lunch Break

09.00-11.00

Video observation,items rating & reliability procedures (Video II)

Items rating

Rating and reliability procedure

3rd DAY – 29/01/2013

08.00-12.00

Live observation

Small groups in kindergartens

Lunch break

14.00-18.00

Rating and reliability procedure

Items rating

Checking reliability

Social activities of EARLY CHANGE in Nicosia: Eleni Loizou and the other colleagues who participated in the seminar were very warm and hospitable and created a great atmosphere throughout the training seminar, and our stay in Nicosia. We thank them one more time for their hospitality and their friendship.

At the end of the training, tired but happy

EARLY CHANGE Training in Greece 1-3 December 2012

EARLY CHANGE Training in Greece

1-3 December 2012

At the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of December 2012 the Early Change project returned “home” at the city of Thessaloniki in Greece where the training seminar for the Training Phase I was conducted. The training was hosted by the Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and University of Crete (Prof. Evridiki Zachopoulou, Athanasios Gregoriadis and Vasilis Grammatikopoulos).

Daily schedule for the estimation of the substantial portion of the day

Tips to proceed with the scoring during the observation

Reliability issues

11.00-12.00

Video observation & practical implementation (part I)

Video part I

Becoming familiar with the indicators

Practical tasks concerning the indicators

Discussion about the indicators

Lunch Break

12.45-14.30

Video observation & practical implementation (part I)

Video part I

Observation & rating video II

Discussion about the items’ rating

2nd DAY

09.00-11.00

Video observation,items rating & reliability procedures (Video II)

Video part II

Observation & rating video II

Discussion about the items

Lunch Break

09.00-11.00

Video observation,items rating & reliability procedures (Video II)

Items rating

Rating and reliability procedure

3rd DAY

08.00-12.00

Live observation

Small groups in kindergartens

Lunch break

14.00-18.00

Rating and reliability procedure

Items rating

Checking reliability

EARLY CHANGE Training in Denmark 8 – 9 October 2012

EARLY CHANGE Training in Denmark

8 – 9 October 2012

At the 8th and 9th of October 2012 the Early Change project visited Nykobing-Falster in Denmark where the training seminar for the Training Phase I was conducted. The training was hosted by University College Sealand (Andreas Claus Henriksen & Lise Sanders Olesen) with the kind support of Guldborgsund Municipality (Bill Lehmann).

The academic staff that organized and conducted the training were the coordinator of the project Prof. Evridiki Zachopoulou together with Dr. Grammatikopoulos and Dr. Gregoriadis from Greece and Dr. Leal and Dr. Gamelas from Portugal.

Training Team 1

Training Team 2

Early childhood educators from public preschool centers in Nykobing, Falster participated in the training that lasted two full days.

Early educators in the seminar

(a) Visiting the preschool centers and impementing the scales(b) Working in groups

Daily schedule for the estimation of the substantial portion of the day

Tips to proceed with the scoring during the observation

Reliability issues

Coffee break

11.30-13.30

Video observation & practical implementation

Video part I

Becoming familiar with the indicators

Practical tasks concerning the indicators

Discussion about the indicators

Video part II

Observation & rating video I

Discussion about the items’ rating

Lunch break

14.30-18.30

Video observation, items rating & reliability procedures

Video part III

Observation & rating video II

Discussion about the items

Rating and reliability procedure

Items rating

Checking reliability

Discussion

2nd DAY

08.00-12.00

Live observation

Small groups in kindergartens

Lunch break

14.00-18.00

Rating and reliability procedure

Items rating & reliability checking

Debriefing & meeting closing

Social activities of EARLY CHANGE in Nykobing: Claus, Bill and all the colleagues who participated in the seminar were very warm and hospitable and created a great atmosphere throughout the training seminar and our stay in Nykobing. We thank them once more for their hospitality and their friendship.

Taking a walk in Nykobing

Teresa, Vasilis, Ana, Evridiki, Claus

The members of the Early Change had the opportunity to present the project to the local press and contribute to the dissemination process in the local community.

EARLY CHANGE Training in Finland 29 – 30 October 2012

EARLY CHANGE Training in Finland

29 – 30 October 2012

At the 29th and 30th of October 2012 the Early Change project visited the city of Jyvaskyla in Finland where the training seminar for the Training Phase I was conducted. The training was hosted by the University of Jyvaskyla (Prof. Jarmo Liukkonen, Raija Raittila, Leena Turja, and Katri Takala).

University of Jyvaskyla (one aspect)

The colleagues who organized and run the training were Dr. Grammatikopoulos and Dr. Gregoriadis from Greece and Dr. Pessanha and Dr. Gamelas from Portugal.

Training Team 1

Training Team 2

Early childhood educators from public preschool centers in Jyvaskyla and Kajani participated in the training that lasted two full days.

Early educators in the seminar

(a) Visiting the preschool centers and impementing the scales(b) Working in groups

Daily schedule for the estimation of the substantial portion of the day

Tips to proceed with the scoring during the observation

Reliability issues

11.00-12.00

Video observation & practical implementation (part 1)

Video part I

Becoming familiar with the indicators

Practical tasks concerning the indicators

Discussion about the indicators

Lunch break

12.30-13.30

Video observation & practical implementation (part 2)

Video part II

Observation & rating video I

Discussion about the items’ rating

Coffee break

14.00-18.00

Video observation, items rating & reliability procedures

Video part III

Observation & rating video II

Discussion about the items

Rating and reliability procedure

Items rating, Checking reliability

Discussion

2nd DAY

08.00-12.00

Live observation

Small groups in kindergartens

Lunch break

14.00-18.00

Rating and reliability procedure

Items rating & reliability checking

Debriefing & meeting closing

Social activities of EARLY CHANGE in Jyvaskyla: Jarmo and the other colleagues who participated in the seminar were very warm and hospitable and created a great atmosphere throughout the training seminar, and our stay in Jyvaskyla. We thank them one more time for their hospitality and their friendship.

Taking a walk in Jyvaskyla

Dinner with Jarmo and Tuula

Promotion & Valorisation

Dissemination activities

International EIF / LINQ Conference 2014

“Changing the Trajectory: Quality for Opening up Education”

Organized by the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE, Germany) and European Foundation for Quality in e-Learning (EFQUEL, Belgium)

7-9 May 2014, Rethymnon, Crete, Greece

The Early Change project participated in the EIF/LINQ conference and presented the initial results of the evaluation of early childhood education (ECE) quality in six European countries. Various aspects of the ECE quality in different educational systems were discussed and analyzed.

According to the Early Change members participated in the conference, such comparisons can create a fertile ground for communication and collaboration among the educational communities of different European countries and promote open education. Implications and future recommendations are also discussed.

International Pre-school Education Convention

“Investing in Pre-school Education in Times of Economic Crisis”

Organized by the Pan-Hellenic Association of Early Childhood Educators
4-6 April 2014, Thessaloniki, Greece
The “Early Change” project had the opportunity to present the results of the project regarding the professional development of early educators to around 1000 delegates. Dr. Zachopoulou, Dr. Gregoriadis, and Dr. Grammatikopoulos participated in the round table and analyzed thoroughly the project’s achievements and possible future exploitation towards the professional development of early childhood educators.

“Enabling Creativity through Science and Mathematics in Early Years Education”
22-23 March 2014, Pallini Attikis, Greece
The “Early Change” project was invited to present the project’s results in the international conference organized by the EU project “Creative little scientists” (FP7-Science-In-Society-2011-1).
Dr. Grammatikopoulos attended and presented the results of the project “Early Change” to over two hundred delegates. Among the participants were several coordinators of relevant EC funded project and the participation in this conference was an opportunity to interact and share experiences with them.

ICERI 2013: 6TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF EDUCATION RESEARCH & INNOVATION

SEVILLE, SPAIN 18-20 NOVEMBER 2013

The “Early Change” project presented in the ICERI 2013 conference the comparative results that were collected during the training phase II from the early educators. The title of the presentation was “COMPARING ASPECTS OF THE PROCESS QUALITY IN SIX EUROPEAN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS”

EARLY CHANGE PROJECT went to BERLIN

At the 7th, 8th and 9th of May 2012 the ‘International ECERS Meeting 2012′ was held in Berlin. The meeting was organized by University of Bamberg and was held in in Freie Universität Berlin. You can read information and see photos in the attached file. Link to word.

EECERA 2012 Conference

‘Early Change’ project participated in the EECERA (European Early Childhood Education Research Association) 2012 Conference, organizing a symposium under the title ‘EARLY CHANGE: A cross-national project of early childhood education quality’. Three papers were presented in this symposium: a) ‘Early Change’ Project: Promoting the professional development of early childhood educators, b) Quality assessment of early childhood education: A cross-national approach, and c) Comparing early childhood education systems in six European countries.

LINQ Conference 2013

‘EARLY CHANGE’ will be presented in the Learning Innovations and Quality Conference – LINQ 2013

Symposium inED / Polytechnic Institute of Porto

‘Early Change’ project was presented in Symposium inED which took
place in School of Education (ESE), Polytechnic Institute of Porto,
Centre for Research & Innovation, on 10th and 11st of May 2013. The
Portuguese team of ‘Early Change’ project worked on it.

Symposium ‘Education and Teacher Education worldwide: Current reforms, problems and challenges’ / University of Crete, Greece

Dr. Grammatikopoulos presented the paper ‘Evaluation of educators’ professional development: Implementation of the four-level model approach’ in the 1st International Symposium ‘Education and Teacher Education worldwide: Current reforms, problems and challenges’ . The Symposium was focused on the Education and Teacher Education in modern world. Particular emphasis was given to the challenges facing education systems and teacher education in the 21st century. It took place in University of Crete (Greece) on 28th – 30th of May, 2013.

Preliminary results of ‘Early Change’ project was presented in 1st Joaquim Bairrao Symposium ‘Transatlantic Trends in Childhood Intervention’, which took
place in Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciên-cias da Educação (FPCEUP), University of Porto, on 8th and 9th of July 2013.

This Symposium closes a serious of transatlantic consortia developed in the scope of the EC/US Program for Cooperation in Higher Education and Vocational Education and Training, (2001-2005), (2006-2008), (2009-2013) Transatlantic Consortium in Early Childhood Intervention – in which Professor Joaquim Bairrão participated.

The ‘EARLY CHANGE Workshop’: International Perspectives on Early Childhood Education’, took place in Thessaloniki (Venue: Convention Center of Bank of Piraeus), on 25th of January 2014. Academics and researchers from 7 countries (Greece, Portugal, Finland, Denmark, Brazil, United Kingdom and Germany) presented topics related on good practices in early childhood education, observation as assessment tool, etc.

Aims
Three are the basic aims of this project:
(i) The first is the enhancement of the professional development of early educators,
(ii) The second is the implementation of ICT’s in the training of early educators from 6 E.U countries, and (iii) the third is the evaluation of the early
childhood education environments of these countries.

Objectives
(i) Professional development:
(a) One objective has to do with the acquisition from early educators of skills to work as trained assessors of Early Childhood Education Environments through their participation in the training phases of the project.
(b) Another objective is the development of self-assessment skills through the the implementation of the ECERS-R scale in their own classrooms.

(ii) Implementation of ICTs in the training of early educators:
(a) One objective is the enhancement of the e-literacy of early educators through the constant use of the web-based platform in the whole project.
(b) Another objective is the effective communication, support and feedback of early educators from the academic staff through the synchronous and asynchronous use of the website and the web-based platform.

(iii) Evaluation of early childhood education environments:
(a) One objective of the project is the collection of empirical data for the assessment of the structural quality and process quality of educational care and pre-primary settings for toddlers and preschoolers. These data will be collected by the participating early educators during the training phase II.
(b) Another objective is the comparison of the quality of early childhood education environments across six different educational systems by processing the selected data using advanced statistical analyses.
(c) A final objective is the recording of a wide range of ‘best practices’ implemented in early childhood classrooms in the participating countries. These data will be collected from the early educators during the training phase II, with the usage of an observation tool.

This proposal will contribute to the professional development of early educators (approximately 120) from 6 countries (Greece, Finland, Denmark, Portugal, Romania, Cyprus) who will be trained in using the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-R (ECERS-R) that evaluates the quality of early childhood environment. These educators will acquire the skills to work as assessors in using ECERS-R and develop skills for an effective self-evaluation.

This proposal will also combine the professional development of educators with the implementation of ICTs with the use of a web-platform with synchronous and asynchronous sessions, thus enhancing their e-literacy skills. The web-platform and the web-site of the project, even after its completion, both in English, will provide opportunities for further communication and cooperation among educators.

Early educators from 9 educational districts and academics from 9 Universities will participate. The academics will be responsible for the training of educators, based on a well-developed training package, created for the needs of this project. This package will also contain the translated ECERS-R scale and its user’s manual in Greeks, Portuguese, Finnish, Danish & Romanian. This process will enhance trainers’ experience concerning the evaluation of early childhood environments, will widen their expertise in several dimensions of teachers and will enable academics to implement this training to other early educators.

An innovative output will be an interactive e-book, containing:(a) The comparative study concerning the quality of the 6 early childhood educational systems, and (b) A wide range of “Good Practices” for educators. Both outputs constitute an innovative action towards the improvement of early education across Europe. International academic and educational community will benefit from all products of this project (workshops, scientific papers, presentations, etc.), which will be available on the project’s web-site.

Aims
Three are the basic aims of this project:
(i) The first is the enhancement of the professional development of early educators,
(ii) The second is the implementation of ICT’s in the training of early educators from 6 E.U countries, and (iii) the third is the evaluation of the early
childhood education environments of these countries.

Objectives
(i) Professional development:
(a) One objective has to do with the acquisition from early educators of skills to work as trained assessors of Early Childhood Education Environments through their participation in the training phases of the project.
(b) Another objective is the development of self-assessment skills through the the implementation of the ECERS-R scale in their own classrooms.

(ii) Implementation of ICTs in the training of early educators:
(a) One objective is the enhancement of the e-literacy of early educators through the constant use of the web-based platform in the whole project.
(b) Another objective is the effective communication, support and feedback of early educators from the academic staff through the synchronous and asynchronous use of the website and the web-based platform.

(iii) Evaluation of early childhood education environments:
(a) One objective of the project is the collection of empirical data for the assessment of the structural quality and process quality of educational care and pre-primary settings for toddlers and preschoolers. These data will be collected by the participating early educators during the training phase II.
(b) Another objective is the comparison of the quality of early childhood education environments across six different educational systems by processing the selected data using advanced statistical analyses.
(c) A final objective is the recording of a wide range of ‘best practices’ implemented in early childhood classrooms in the participating countries. These data will be collected from the early educators during the training phase II, with the usage of an observation tool.

This proposal will contribute to the professional development of early educators (approximately 120) from 6 countries (Greece, Finland, Denmark, Portugal, Romania, Cyprus) who will be trained in using the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-R (ECERS-R) that evaluates the quality of early childhood environment. These educators will acquire the skills to work as assessors in using ECERS-R and develop skills for an effective self-evaluation.

This proposal will also combine the professional development of educators with the implementation of ICTs with the use of a web-platform with synchronous and asynchronous sessions, thus enhancing their e-literacy skills. The web-platform and the web-site of the project, even after its completion, both in English, will provide opportunities for further communication and cooperation among educators.

Early educators from 9 educational districts and academics from 9 Universities will participate. The academics will be responsible for the training of educators, based on a well-developed training package, created for the needs of this project. This package will also contain the translated ECERS-R scale and its user’s manual in Greeks, Portuguese, Finnish, Danish & Romanian. This process will enhance trainers’ experience concerning the evaluation of early childhood environments, will widen their expertise in several dimensions of teachers and will enable academics to implement this training to other early educators.

An innovative output will be an interactive e-book, containing:(a) The comparative study concerning the quality of the 6 early childhood educational systems, and (b) A wide range of “Good Practices” for educators. Both outputs constitute an innovative action towards the improvement of early education across Europe. International academic and educational community will benefit from all products of this project (workshops, scientific papers, presentations, etc.), which will be available on the project’s web-site.

Aims
Three are the basic aims of this project:
(i) The first is the enhancement of the professional development of early educators,
(ii) The second is the implementation of ICT’s in the training of early educators from 6 E.U countries, and (iii) the third is the evaluation of the early
childhood education environments of these countries.

Objectives
(i) Professional development:
(a) One objective has to do with the acquisition from early educators of skills to work as trained assessors of Early Childhood Education Environments through their participation in the training phases of the project.
(b) Another objective is the development of self-assessment skills through the the implementation of the ECERS-R scale in their own classrooms.

(ii) Implementation of ICTs in the training of early educators:
(a) One objective is the enhancement of the e-literacy of early educators through the constant use of the web-based platform in the whole project.
(b) Another objective is the effective communication, support and feedback of early educators from the academic staff through the synchronous and asynchronous use of the website and the web-based platform.

(iii) Evaluation of early childhood education environments:
(a) One objective of the project is the collection of empirical data for the assessment of the structural quality and process quality of educational care and pre-primary settings for toddlers and preschoolers. These data will be collected by the participating early educators during the training phase II.
(b) Another objective is the comparison of the quality of early childhood education environments across six different educational systems by processing the selected data using advanced statistical analyses.
(c) A final objective is the recording of a wide range of ‘best practices’ implemented in early childhood classrooms in the participating countries. These data will be collected from the early educators during the training phase II, with the usage of an observation tool.

This proposal will contribute to the professional development of early educators (approximately 120) from 6 countries (Greece, Finland, Denmark, Portugal, Romania, Cyprus) who will be trained in using the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-R (ECERS-R) that evaluates the quality of early childhood environment. These educators will acquire the skills to work as assessors in using ECERS-R and develop skills for an effective self-evaluation.

This proposal will also combine the professional development of educators with the implementation of ICTs with the use of a web-platform with synchronous and asynchronous sessions, thus enhancing their e-literacy skills. The web-platform and the web-site of the project, even after its completion, both in English, will provide opportunities for further communication and cooperation among educators.

Early educators from 9 educational districts and academics from 9 Universities will participate. The academics will be responsible for the training of educators, based on a well-developed training package, created for the needs of this project. This package will also contain the translated ECERS-R scale and its user’s manual in Greeks, Portuguese, Finnish, Danish & Romanian. This process will enhance trainers’ experience concerning the evaluation of early childhood environments, will widen their expertise in several dimensions of teachers and will enable academics to implement this training to other early educators.

An innovative output will be an interactive e-book, containing:(a) The comparative study concerning the quality of the 6 early childhood educational systems, and (b) A wide range of “Good Practices” for educators. Both outputs constitute an innovative action towards the improvement of early education across Europe. International academic and educational community will benefit from all products of this project (workshops, scientific papers, presentations, etc.), which will be available on the project’s web-site.

Address

Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This product reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein